The two major issues facing utilities implementing Smart Grid AMI solutions have been vulnerability to cyber attacks and the lack of cost effective, robust two way communications to transmit information between the meter and the utility's Energy Management Center.

The Infrax secure communications module will provide enhanced encryption to solve the first issue and our recently announced pending acquisition of Trimax Wireless solves the second issue.

Smart Grid Security is Ground Zero for Cyber Security. Department of Energy mandates are requiring higher security levels over many enterprise, local, county and critical network infrastructures. Most critical network infrastructures were not meant to securely connect two-way digital connections from every home, every building, every factory throughout the power companies’ service area. And adding millions of these connections, such as smart meters, to the power grid distribution system is no easy task in network security.

At the Conductivity Week conference in Santa Clara, California, last week, even the “Godfather of the Internet,” Vint Cerf, opened the meeting and ended his keynote speech with a daunting announcement, "One of the things incumbent on all of us is to introduce strong authentication into the fabric of the smart grid," Cerf said. "We did not do that with the Internet."

Power companies are in the precarious position of having to do something now while preparing for the future. With $3.375 billion kicked in by the Federal Government and even more funds added by Power and Utility Companies, they need to produce now but only if a smart grid security plan can be demonstrated by companies like Infrax Systems.

The multi-protocol hardware developed and manufactured by Trimax, coupled with their patented, proprietary routing architecture when incorporated into the Infrax communications module will provide utilities with a cost effective, robust last mile two-way communications solution for upgrading older meters and enhancing the newer ones.

There are in excess of 1.4 billion electric meters globally and 150 million electrical meters in the United States alone. According to a report issued by Parks Associates, the 8.3 million smart meters installed as of May 2009 make up more than 6 percent of the total number of residential electricity meters in the United States.

Over the next several years, experts expect large-scale smart meter deployments by the country's biggest utilities -- as well as smaller scale installations by hundreds of smaller cooperative, municipal and public utilities.

Smart meter penetration in the U.S. is expected to grow to 13.6 million units by next year and more than 33 million units by 2011, and globally deployments are expected to exceed 212 million units or $46B by 2014, creating an incredible growth opportunity for companies like Infrax.